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music & performing arts
For more than 15 years, Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling's sonic work has a focus on performance art, musical sound design and modular electronics. As a solo artist and in numerous collaborations, he explores potentials of sonic storytelling, the interplay of musical structures and traditions, and the political and ethical implications of listening. He was invited to the Ruhrtriennale, Theatertreffen Berlin, Sophiensaele Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, Goethe-Institut Yaoundé and Hong Kong City Hall, among others.
SONIC SPACES OBERHAUSEN
Theater Oberhausen, 2023
Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling uses conversations with various experts from the region, recordings from the city and electronic instruments to develop a soundscape of Oberhausen. It is about the connection between sound and place, urban planning and noise protection, neighborhood disputes, music therapy and loss of place and, of course, ultimately about the question of what Oberhausen actually sounds like.
Musical AI in dialogue with Ückendorf / Musikalische AI im Dialog mit Ückendorf
Hier ist nicht da, Gelsenkirchen. NEW NOW Festival, Zeche Zollverein Essen, 2023
As part of the NEW NOW festival Rasmus Nordholt-frieling and Lukas Hermann have been exploring the sound of Gelsenkirchen Ückendorf. From field recordings, sonifications of climate and social data and their modular synthesizers they have a quadrophones live concert, an istallative sound environment. Part of the project was also a workshop with children and young adults (see: Education).
Artistic direction: Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling and Lukas Hermann
Hudu' Nisbi / Ruhr Ding: Schlaf / calm down restless machine
Composition for a radioshow. Cute Community Radio, Urbane Künste Ruhr, 2023
For the radioshow "Hudu' Nisbi", hosted and curated by Guy Dermosessian on cute community radio, I created a piece of pacthprogrammable uneasiness. Produced by Urbane Künste Ruhr. ///////// "So rest, dear machine, in silver dream, / Let your feedback fade into a gentle stream, / For in the morning's warming beam, / New tasks await, a fresh new scheme." ////////
shfit '22 EP
tape / digital / aimless puzzle 2023
Shfit '22 celebrates the flaws in the grid, the pebbles in the shoe, and the bruises on the knee. shfit '22 is available on bandcamp, all streaming platforms, as tape and as a limited special edition (sold out): An intuitive cardboard game, a self-care design tool, an aimless puzzle with 22 pieces in a high quality box. A quasi-Dadaist performance that you can share with yourself or with others. Tape and digital download included. All materials are certified and sustainably produced. "Sit down, alone or with others, and put on the EP. Or don't. Take out the elements, spread them out, form constellations, combine, isolate, superimpose, compose, modulate, enjoy, contemplate, feel.
Take your time. Or don't."
(Excerpt from the score)
Remembering the red chamber
Opera performance by Enoch Cheng at WestKowloon Hong Kong, 2023
The experimental performance Remembering the Red Chamber examines the complexity of human psychology through a contemporary exploration of Cantonese opera gestures and the character of Lin Daiyu, the heroine of the classic Chinese novel The Dream of the Red Chamber.
Unqantized Conversation
Collaborative EP with Lukas Hermann, 2023
Based on free improvisation and filter coffee, Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling and Lukas Hermann begin their musical conversation. Electric wires connect for heightened interactions of voltages as the machines and their players get to know each other.
All tracks performed by Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling and Lukas Hermann. Cover Art: Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling. Mastering: Lukas Hermann
Sonic Memory Oberhausen
Theater Oberhausen, 2022
The sound artist Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling sets out on the search of forgotten sounds and their traces in Oberhausen: What did mining sound like? How do sound images change when hearing is impaired? What drives the sound archivist? How can sounds unexpectedly evoke memories? And what was the last thing you heard yesterday?
A music philosopher, an organizer of concerts for people with dementia and one of the last miners in the Ruhr area are among the experts with whom Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling explored these questions and the sounds of Oberhausen.
In a live electronic audio piece, the results of this research are musically interwoven. Echoes from old Ruhr recordings and sounds from today's Oberhausen mix with tape loops, modular synthesizers and live electronics to create a sonic memory space.
By Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling. With: Anne-Verena Freybott, Helga Theisen, Ulrich Matuschek, Elisabeth von Leliwa, Anja Renczikowski, Peter Szendy , Markus Behler, Richard Ortmann. Foto: Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling
inside out
Ruhrtriennale, 2021/22
Every urban space is built and planned under ideological assumptions. But are its inhabitants aware of the relationship between themselves and public spaces? An audio walk through downtown Bochum reveals the hidden connections between space, design and social interaction. The audiowalk is available here:
By tehran re:public. Director: Amirhossein Mashaherifard, Shahab Anousha. Music: Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling. With texts from Fabian Lettow, Philipp Beißel, Dr. Stefan Höhne. Voice: Miriam Michel, Philipp Beißel, Dr. Judith Schäfer, Sonja Kirschall. Voice recording: Philipp Blömeke, Wardrobe Voices. Translation: Sonja Kirschall.
Nekrologe
Schauspielhaus Bochum, 2022
Nekrologe 22 is a three-part performance by the Bochum-based performance company dorisdean, consisting of a multi-track video installation. On Monday, 31.10. a performative farewell ritual will take place and on 1.11. the artists Miriam Michel & Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling will show a musical mourning ritual starting at 6 pm, which will last about 3 hours (with breaks).
By and with: dorisdean. Artistic direction: Miriam Michel. Grafic: Jasmin Keune-Galeski.
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To Arrive
Hong Kong Cityhall, 2022
“To Arrive” is an audio walk by Enoch Cheng that takes the audience through Hong Kong, across the stage entrance and into the audience space. From here they watch the other Hong Kong citizens arrive at the theater. Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling produced the audiowalk and did the sounddesign for the piece. Also the audience hears filigree music in the auditorium between echoes of classical music, asian echoes of european pop music, contemporary groove compositions and field recordings.
By Enoch Cheng. Picture: Enoch Cheng.
Transmission 20/21
Tape Release, 2021
Transmission 20/21 is a collection of four worldwide collaborations created during the corona pandemic. Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling sent modular compositions to musicians from his international network and composed these four pieces from the responses. The collaborators are singer Alima (Yaoundé), producer and musician Ozan Tekin (Cologne), beatmaker and sound designer Nikhil Narendra (Bangalore) and trombonist and composer Moritz Anthes (Essen).
by Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling. With: Alima, Friederike Nordholt, Ozan Tekin, Nikhil Narendra, Moritz Anthes, Miriam Michel and Nils Voges.
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Ich höre Stimmen
Burg Hülshoff – Center for Literature, 2022
In the Rüschhaus, we conjure up Annette von Droste-Hülshoff‘s crime novella Die Judenbuche during a “Remote Reading”. With sound recordings, videos and texts recited by the audience itself, we let the ghosts of the story appear. They ask: Does justice feel like fairness?
By and with dorisdean: Miriam Michel, Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling, Patrizia Kubanek. Video: Robin Junicke. Scenography: Krista Burger. Assistance: Carmen Hübner. Picture: Dona Freisburger.
Verliere dich
Audiowalk (everywhere), 2022
Verliere dich auf dem Land ('Get lost in the countryside') and Verliere dich in der Stadt ('Get lost in the city') are audiowalks by walking professional Jens Eike Krüger that you can do anywhere and anytime. While you get lost in your own environment, you learn interesting, curious and poetic things about the different spaces and their structure – just by listening while you walk. Premiere: Schaubüdchen, Bochum
Director and writer: Jens Eike Krüger; Music: Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling; Text Consulting, Editing and Voices: Judith Schäfer and Philipp Blömeke; Production: Hertzkammerstudio Cologne. Grafic: Jens Eike Krüger.
Blaues Rauschen Festival
Tresor West (Dortmund), 2021
At Blaues Rauschen Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling interconnects modular synthesizer arrangements, classical sequencing techniques, contemporary sound generators and digital samples of acoustic instruments. Grooves are composed of a thicket of rhythmically unbound impulses and asynchronous modulations, the structure is consolidated by a bass drum or carried along the sampled texture of a santoor, only to be lost again in a joyful noise.
Picture: Sebastian Campos.
No Future Club
KHM Köln, Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, 2021
»Imagine a place that knows no tomorrow. A place where you don't have to think about your future. A place where no one expects anything from you, but where you shouldn't expect too much either. A place where you forget to make plans, design projects or make predictions. A place of relief, with no prospect of cure. That place is the No Future Club.« For this place Moritz Anthes and Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling created a No Future score.
Concept, artistic direction, performance: Jascha Sommer, Max/MSP-Pilot, production & dramaturgy: Thomas Meckel, No Future set design: Jakob Engel, text & dramaturgy: Laura Strack, No Future music: Moritz Anthes, Rasmus Nordholt, co-performance: Khosrou Mahmoudi, set design: Emese Bodolay, costume: MONSIEUR TOURETTE, brochure design: ROTHER'S BÜRO, teaser & documentation: Elisabeth Caic, Andreas Finger, photo documentation: Sebastian Wolf
Und jetzt alle/And Now All & Sieg über die Sonne/Victory over the Sun
Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen, Ringlokschuppen Ruhr 2019-2021
Together with the group KGI, Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling and Moritz Anthes have composed two operas for professional and non-professional singers: Und Jetzt Alle / And Now All and the opera film Sieg über die Sonne / Victory Over the Sun, based on the futuristic opera design by Alexei Kruchonych, Velimir Khlebnikov, Mikhail Matyushin and Kazimir Malevich.
Und jetzt alle: Maria Vogt, Dominik Meder, Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling, Moritz Anthe,s Utako Washio, Marcel Nascimento, Kerstin Pohle, Zhive Kremshovski, Sebastian Schiller, Karola Pavone, Stephanie Dörr, Mike Vojnar, Mehrdad Golpour, Lena Bergdoll, Melinda Breitkopf, Klaus Mählmann, Luisa Vennemann, Christiane Holtschulte.
Sieg über die Sonne: Concept, direction, montage, set design, costumes: KGI (Simon Kubisch, Dominik Meder, Maria Vogt); musical direction & composition: Moritz Anthes; sound design & composition: Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling; camera: Jan Ehlen; assistant director + video: Marcel Nascimento; production management: Christiane Holtschulte; accompaniment: Martin Sotelo; dramaturgy: Stephan Steinmetz, Sebastian Brohn, Anna Chernomordik; translation into English: Lars Banhold;
Performers: Dominik Meder, Tobias Glagau, Mike Vojnar; Gloria Iberl-Thieme, Andrea Filipiak, Andrea Filipiak (voice:Gloria Iberl-Thieme), Steffanie Dörr, Melinda Breitkopf, Michael Heine, Marlene Kubisch, Martin Sotelo.
Other musicians: Paula Häni, Simon Camatta, Este Kirchhoff.
Here you can listen to my new track